My Buddy Louie

Louie, a purebred Boxer, loves his skateboard./ Wayne Redshaw photo

By WAYNE REDSHAW

  The first name “Louie” may not be as common as it was but over the years and with my connections in sports I have met a few individuals named “Louie”. A couple have been successful businessmen in Welland while two others were involved in hockey.

 First there was Louie Elia who owned and operated Ideal Fish and Chips on East Main in Welland for years. It was a landmark and his customers came from all over. Louie wasn’t an athlete by any means but he loved to follow the horses, especially when they were racing at Fort Erie. I usually visited him two or three days a week at his establishment as he knew I had access to the early morning scratches and after studying the racing form and the scratches he would give me his picks and money knowing I would likely see a bookie at a nearby bar later in the day and place his bets for him.

  Then there was Louie Pelino, who was a partner in Pelino-Mataya-Molnar Collision, a very successful auto body repair shop. Louie played senior and intermediate hockey locally and with the collision body shop sponsored softball and hockey teams. He was a good supporter of sports in general in Welland.

  Another Louie was Louie Varga, a trainer with the NHL’s Chicago Black Hawks. Varga started out assisting Frankie Christie of Buffalo Bisons of the AHL. Then when an opening came up in Chicago, Christie highly recommended Varga for the job.

I remember when I covered the 1971 Stanley Cup finals between Montreal Canadiens and the Hawks, Louie was on cloud nine and hoping to become the first Wellander to have his name inscribed on the Cup. Unfortunately, that didn’t materialize. The series went the distance — seven games — but the Canadiens won that seventh game in overtime in the Windy City.

  The fourth Louie was Louie  Nistico, who played four years in the now defunct World Hockey Association — three with the Toronto Toros, one with the Birmingham Bulls. He also got to play three games in the NHL for the Colorado Rockies.

  Nistico was a member of Branford Alexanders, who won the Allan Cup, emblematic of the Canadian Senior A championship in the 1977-78 season. The following year the Alexanders moved to Welland and became known as the Welland Sunys, then the Welland Steelers.

  With winning the Allan Cup the previous season as the Alexanders, the Sunys were presented with the opportunity to represent Canada overseas. It was a 16-day goodwill tour of Yugoslavia, Austria and Italy with games played in the three countries. I had the opportunity to accompany the Sunys on that trip and it was quite an experience. That is where I got to know Lou Nistico. He was quite a character, the life of the party.

  Now there’s another Louie. However, this Louie is different than the four mentioned. For starters, he has four legs and barks. Yes, you guessed it — Louie is a dog. But he’s not your ordinary or average pet dog.

   Louie is different in many respects and I think he’s very talented, especially on a skateboard. He is also a real showman. As a neighbour, I’ve watched Louie grow up and progress from a young pup. Now three years old, Louie, a purebred Boxer, is proudly owned by Henry and Leslie Watson of Wainfleet. Henry is a retired Hamilton firefighter and the Watsons moved to their lakeside Wainfleet residence over five years ago.

   There’s a rather steep boat ramp that goes right into Lake Erie on their property and Louie has taken a real fancy to it. He started out by sliding down the ramp in one of Leslie’s big metal bowls. She didn’t give it to Louie, he removed it from one of the lower cupboards and went directly to the ramp, put his front paws inside and started sliding. There were times when he crashed and even went over the wall before reaching the bottom. But Louie was determined. He would bark at the bowl, then pick up the bowl in his mouth and return to the top of the ramp and try it again.

  Leslie decided that the bowl was too noisy on the concrete structure and coupled with Louie’s barking, she would find him a different toy. Furthermore, her supply of mixing bowls was decreasing with Louie taking them to slide down the ramp.

  One day while in the Treasure Hunt in Port Colborne she came across a skateboard and Henry and Leslie decided the board would be better and definitely much quieter as it had wheels. The only question was would Louie take to it?

  That wasn’t a problem as Louie instantly knew what the board was for and how to use it. Two front paws on the board down he goes. Of course, staying on course is sometimes a problem as he still crashes and the odd time goes over the wall. But that doesn’t stop Louie from getting back up and trying it again. And as with the bowl, he retrieves the board and continues his journey or he returns to top of the ramp to begin again. He simply doesn’t  give up.

  Too bad there’s not such competitions for animals, especially dogs. There’s the “Doggie Bowl” that is staged the same day as the Super Bowl every year. It’s been going for years and howling success. In fact, sometimes I would say the “Doggie Bowl” has even been more entertaining  to watch than the actual game itself.

   I doubt if the International Olympic Committee would consider staging a separate Olympics just for animals as they have enough headaches now trying to stage both the winter and summer games once every four years.

   Maybe there is some other organization out there that might be interested in staging an Olympic-style competition for animals. And it could include various events, not just skate boarding. I’m sure there’s a lot animals out there who have hidden talents, just like my buddy Louie.

      Meanwhile, Louie is no doubt a pioneer. He is also content as he has his skateboard  and his own ramp to do his thing.

Editor’s note: The author provided a short video showing Louie in action but unfortunately, it could not be used on the site.

(Wayne Redshaw has covered and written about amateur and professional sports for over 60 years. Now retired, he can be reached at wredshaw@icloud.com).